Substance Dependence: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment

If you were addicted to the substance, just cutting down wouldn’t ordinarily work. The National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics says more than 20 million people over the age of 12 in the United States have substance alcohol tolerance wikipedia use disorder. Most commonly, the cases are related to marijuana and prescription pain relievers. Addiction is considered “highly treatable.” But it can take a few tries for the therapy to be fully effective.

They use the substance no matter what and despite the consequences. Addictions are more likely to result in serious harm, including suicide, unlike tolerance and physical dependence. There has been an evolving understanding that substance misuse relates to a complex set of variables that includes a person’s genetics as well as physical, mental, emotional and social factors. Additional training in assessment and diagnosis for physician trainees at the medical school level is also needed. Most medical schools only devote a few hours over four years to teaching addiction medicine, a mere fraction of the time devoted to other chronic diseases encountered in general practice [8].

1. If you are taking a prescription medication, your doctor may change the class of medication, which may affect your body in a different way.
2. You may wonder whether these folks had an addiction or a dependency on their drug of choice.
3. Some organizations may have different names or definitions or use the words interchangeably, which causes mass confusion.
4. It’s a scenario that pits addiction versus abuse or addiction versus dependence.
5. „Physical dependence on a substance (drug or alcohol) may be a component of addiction, but it does not itself equal addiction.

He cites declines in rates of drinking and driving and of adult tobacco use as examples of the success due to changes in social norms. Although men are more likely to smoke, drink, and use drags, women become addicted more quickly and develop diseases related to substance abuse more quickly than men do, according guide to living with an alcoholic to a recent CASA report, Substance Abuse and the American Woman. A history of sexual abuse seems to be a factor in whether women abuse alcohol, the report noted. It also pointed out that among adolescents the gender gap is closing; girls and boys both start smoking at age 13 and begin drinking at 15.

If you suspect you may have become physically dependent on a prescription medication that your healthcare provider has asked you to take, contact the physician who prescribed the medication to you. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), approximately 20 million people in the United States over the age of 12 experienced a substance use disorder in 2019. It is estimated that substance use disorders cost the United States $420 billion dollars a year.

Addiction Vs. Dependence

Regardless of what term you use to describe a substance misuse issue, Mr. Kump emphasizes that the key is to understand that treatment is available. But our genetic makeup doesn’t necessarily rule our choices and our lives. For example, social drinkers with a family history of addiction have a 1 in 5 risk of misusing alcohol, he says. Their peers without the genetic predisposition have a 1 in 10 risk. Alcohol, on the other hand, often follows a slower, more insidious path of abuse before the body becomes dependent on it. And it is the most misused drug in the United States, Mr. Kump says.

Drug Misuse and Addiction

Whether you’re in the early stages or have a full-blown disorder, the earlier you get help, the greater your odds of overcoming this successfully. The longer you let this fester, it’ll only hurt you worse in the long term. The National Institute on Drug Abuse notes that tolerance occurs in a drug or alcohol user when the user needs more of the drug or alcohol to get the same effect that occurred during the initial periods of intake. It’s a grim scenario that unfortunately is found in many drug abuse cases year after year. Studies have shown that addiction can form in individuals through a combination of genetic makeup and poor social skills.

Is the issue physical or mental?

When symptoms of both physical and mental dependence are obvious, it usually indicates that addiction is present. However, the primary characteristic that determines it’s an addiction and not dependence is the combination of both physical and mental dependence. It causes uncontrollable behavior when it comes to getting and using the drug of choice.

However, there are clear differences between the two terms, several of which deal with the chemical effects that happen to addicted persons. …resulted in confusion among clinicians regarding the difference between “dependence” in a DSM (IV) sense, which is really “addiction,” and “dependence” as a normal physiological adaptation to repeated dosing of a medication. The result is that clinicians who see evidence of tolerance and withdrawal symptoms assume that this means addiction, and patients requiring additional pain medication are made to suffer. Similarly, pain patients in need of opioid medications may forgo proper treatment because of the fear of dependence, which is self-limiting by equating it with addiction (764–765) [6].

Addiction vs. dependence: What is the difference?

In this article, we look at the differences between addiction and dependence and explore definitions, examples, and differences in treatment. My first thought is that I’m really mad and frustrated to be on opiods, still to this day, especially because I’m the don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t do drugs person. 2 or 3 years ago I tapered off it to see if it was having an effect on my neuropathy pain. After being off it for two weeks I knew that it was relieving the pain. I had been taking 30mg tid, but when I restarted it I only got up to 15mg tid.

However, they may still experience withdrawal symptoms if they stop taking it. This recent upturn in illicit drug use among youths has important implications for substance abuse prevention and treatment efforts. … There is an obvious need to focus immediate attention on children and adolescents.

Physical Dependence Vs. Addiction

A person who is chemically dependent on a drug might show different physiological changes around chronic usage, tolerance levels, and even withdrawal symptoms. When someone is addicted to a substance, it’s not uncommon for their loved ones to refer to them as having an “addiction” to certain behaviors or describe them as someone that is “dependent” on alcohol or drugs. People tend to use the words “addiction” and “dependent” interchangeably to describe a person’s behavior when engaged in a certain activity, as well as the results of the behavior when it leads to a physical illness.

When addiction is related to drugs or alcohol, the condition is also called a substance use disorder. It could include prescription drugs, over-the-counter products, street drugs, alcohol, even nicotine. But the ICD has yet to catch up and since American billing systems and other records often rely on ICD, this conflation continues to cause problems both in the United States and rest of the world. There is no justification for keeping this misleading term in light of what we now know about the nature of addiction. For one, depending on a substance to avoid physical withdrawal symptoms is neither necessary nor sufficient to define addiction. Many drugs cause dependence but not addiction, for example, paroxetine [10] and clonidine [11].

Dependence is characterized by tolerance or withdrawal symptoms and can be a consequence of many drugs, such as pain medications, stimulants, and antidepressants. Hailey Shafir is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor, Licensed Clinical Addiction Specialist, and Certified Clinical Supervisor with extensive experience in counseling people with mental health and addictive disorders. The differences between substance addiction and substance dependence are slight, as many of their signs and symptoms intersect.

Because of the direct effects on the brain, an addicted patient will often act out of character and develop an inability to determine whether and when their use has become problematic and uncontrollable. One of the brain areas still maturing during adolescence is the prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain that allows people to assess situations, how long can you live with cirrhosis make sound decisions, and keep emotions and desires under control. The fact that this critical part of a teen’s brain is still a work in progress puts them at increased risk for trying drugs or continuing to take them. Introducing drugs during this period of development may cause brain changes that have profound and long-lasting consequences.

In recent years, related medical terminology has been changed and clarified. As preparations for the fifth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) are under way, this paper focuses upon changes proposed for the substance use disorders section. It briefly outlines the history behind the current nomenclature, and the selection of the term ‘dependence’ over ‘addiction’ in earlier versions of the DSM. These dual meanings have led to confusion and may have propagated current clinical practices related to under-treatment of pain, as physicians fear creating an ‘addiction’ by prescribing opioids. In part to address this problem, a change proposed for DSM-V is to alter the chapter name to ‘Addiction and Related Disorders’, which will include disordered gambling.